About MakerFest
Since 2015, MAKERFEST has celebrated the incredible employers and amazing talent that call the Greater Lima Region their home. We successfully moved the MAKERFEST event from the Civic Center Downtown to the Allen County Fairgrounds in 2019. Friday the first day of MAKERFEST each mid-October, skills competitions pit high school teams against one another in a series of face-offs to win either the original Maker Cup (skilled trades competitions) or the STEM Maker Cup (Brain Games competitions) or both. Local subject matter experts offer breakout session topics from “How to Know If You’re Cut Out to be an Engineer” to “A Robot’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Additionally, 100+ employers set up exhibits to meet and recruit talent from the upcoming workforce.
On Saturday, those same employers present immediate hiring opportunities to local adult job seekers as the MAKERFEST Job Fair is hosted by OhioMeansJobs-Allen County.
IN 2019, MAKERFEST NUMBERS WERE:
- 2 days – Fri, Sat, October 18-19
- 3 venues – Allen County Fairgrounds, Apollo Career Center, UA #776
- 96 Sponsoring Companies plus their representatives
- 1500 Students at MakerFest Career Expo
- 766 local job seekers a 53% increase from 2018 at Makerfest Job Fair
- 37 Regional Career Tech and High Schools
- 196 Teacher/Coaches from the High Schools
- 123 volunteers from different organizations
- 6 regional colleges and universities
- 8 Skilled Trades Competitions
- 14 “Brain Games” STEM Competitions
- 19 Breakout Sessions
- Thousands of career connections made!
